


With a Little Help From Our Friends

by nickelkeep



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Bisexual Dean Winchester, Canon Compliant, Dean Winchester Comes Out, Dean Winchester is Loved, M/M, Minor Donna Hanscum/Jody Mills, Minor Kaia Nieves/Claire Novak, representation week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-22
Updated: 2020-03-22
Packaged: 2021-02-28 23:21:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,353
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23265382
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nickelkeep/pseuds/nickelkeep
Summary: When Jody calls Dean for help on a case, the case is the last thing he's expected. And the lessons he learns are the best thing that could have happened to him.
Relationships: Castiel/Dean Winchester
Comments: 15
Kudos: 203





	With a Little Help From Our Friends

**Author's Note:**

> Surprise fic? I'm just full of these right now!
> 
> This was written for Representation Week on Tumblr, hosted by @specialagentrin and @misha-moose-dean-burger-lover on Tumblr!  
> ...  
> Thanks to [MaggieMaybe160](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MaggieMaybe160/pseuds/MaggieMaybe160) for the Beta!  
> ...  
> You can find me on [Tumblr](https://nickelkeep.tumblr.com/) and [Twitter](https://twitter.com/nickelwrites).

_Bad boys, bad boys/Whatcha gonna do, whatcha gonna do/When they come for you_

Dean pulled out his cell, shrugging off Sam’s eye roll. Only one of two people would be calling him with that ringtone, and Dean would be damned if he was going to let Sam take the joy out of the phone call. He looked at the screen and smiled.

“Jodes, what’s up?”

A brief pause made Dean nervous, but before he could question it, Jody spoke up. “Dean, you’re not in the middle of anything, are you?”

“Nope. Just got back from a vamp nest in Tulsa. We’re keepin’ an eye out, but taking it easy at the same time.” Dean kicked his feet up to emphasize the point, even if Jody couldn’t see it.

“I hate to do this to you then, but I need you.” Jody sounded defeated, and Dean quickly sat back up in his chair.

“What’s going on, Jody?”

“It’s about Claire. And you’re the only person I think would be able to help her out.” Jody let out a sigh. “I wouldn’t call if I thought had any other options.”

Dean frowned. Jody was normally on top of things when it came to all of the girls. “Alright, let me get Sam and Cas–”

“No. No, no.” Jody interrupted. “Just you. Please.”

“Are you sure?” Dean looked over at Sam who had closed the book in front of him. Dean held up a finger and shook his head.

“Dean, she’s going to be embarrassed that I called anyone. But out of all the people I could think of… You’re the one who can probably relate the most.”

“Alright, let me pack my bag, and I’ll be on the road in about twenty minutes, okay?” Dean tried to sound reassuring. “I’ll see you soon, I promise.” He hung up the phone and put it back in his pocket.

Sam raised an eyebrow and rested his chin on his hand. “What’s that all about?”

“Jody needs some help. Hold down the fort? Call me if something comes up, I’ll join you and Cas when I’m done helping her out.” Dean shot a finger gun at Sam before heading to his room.

…

After a quick goodbye to Jack and Cas, Dean took to the open road, hoping to make the trip to Sioux Falls in less than four hours. He popped some Seger into the tape deck for the first half of the drive, and as if they knew the tape was over, another phone call came in.

“D-Train! What’s up?” Dean smiled as he answered.

“I hear you’re on your way to Jodio’s.” Donna’s thick-but-sweet accent came through the speakerphone.

“I am. You know what’s going on?” Dean reached down and grabbed the box of tapes off the floor while keeping his eye on the road.

“Claire’s in a bad place right now, Dean.” She hummed a little, as if in thought. “You know it’s been about a year, right?”

Dean snorted. “Donna, I love you, but you’re assuming I even know what day it is.”

“What are we going to do with you, Winchester? Hmm?” She took in a deep breath. “It’s been a year since the Bad Place.”

“Shit.” Dean briefly closed his eyes and ran his hand down his face. “Wait. What can I do to help her out with that?” Donna started to reply, but her voice was cutting in and out. He picked the phone up off of the seat and noticed his phone only had a bar of signal. “Donna, I can’t hear you, I’m going through a bad spot.” He heard the phone beep in disconnection and shook his head. “Well then.”

He reached into the box and pulled out a random cassette. Upon looking at it, he realized he grabbed Metallica’s Black album and push it into the deck after pulling out Seger’s Night Moves. He tossed Night Moves into the box and took a look at his phone. The bars showed full signal again, and for a moment, he contemplated calling Donna back. He shook his head and turned his focus back to the road.

…

Rather proud of himself for making the drive in three hours and fifty-seven minutes, Dean pulled up in front of Jody’s home, parking Baby next to Jody’s Jeep. Donna’s truck was parked on the other side, and Dean was even more confused as to what he could offer that Jody nor Donna could.

“I thought I heard that engine!” Donna walked down the front steps and pulled Dean into a hug. “I swear you got a horseshoe up your butt with how fast you got here.”

“Probably.” Dean leaned into the back seat after Donna let go and grabbed out his duffel. “So, where’s Hunter Barbie?”

Donna pointed over her shoulder at the house. “In her room. Jody’s trying to get her to eat.”

“Trying to get her to eat? What the hell? Claire puts away food like it’s going out of style.” Dean’s face dropped as he followed Donna into the house.

“We know.” Donna nodded in agreement. “But…”

“Is that Dean?” Jody appeared from the hallway, a full plate in her hand. “Thank goodness you’re here.”

Dean looked back and forth between the two women. “You gonna let me know why you wanted me here?”

“I thought I would be able to relate to her.” Jody hung her head. “With what happened to Sean and Owen.” She leaned into Donna as Donna wrapped her arm around her shoulder. “I get that first love strikes fast, but she blames herself for Kaia’s death.”

“So, how am I supposed to help again?” Dean asked, slightly nervous about where the conversation was going.

“Dean, you’ve gone through something similar, when Cas died.” Donna smiled sadly at Dean.

“I’m not…” Dean shook his head. “Nope, you got that wrong.”

Jody’s head snapped up. “Don’t you dare say that you don’t love Cas, Dean Winchester. Don’t you do it.” Jody got into his personal space and jabbed at his chest with her finger. “You can pretend all you want, but your family has eyes, Dean. Now go in there, and talk to the girl who looks to you for fatherly advice.”

“Jodes,” Donna quietly chided Jody and took her hand. “Don’t push.” She looked at Dean. “Go talk to Claire. Please?”

“Still don’t know how it’s going to help.” Dean walked up the stairs to the bedrooms, vaguely remembering which one was Claire’s. He listened carefully, and heard the soft sobs coming from behind one of the doors, and stopped to knock on it. “Claire?”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” 

Dean heard the muffled retort and couldn’t help but laugh. “That’s what I said, Kiddo. I’m coming in.” He pushed down on the door level and opened the door. Claire was laying on her bed, hugging the Grumpy Cat that Cas had bought her for her birthday. “Hey.”

“Jody seriously called you?” Claire’s bright blue eyes peaked over the stuffed animal, and Dean could easily see the resemblance between her and Jimmy. “I’ll get over it. I just need a few days.”

“Yeah, that’s what we tell ourselves, isn’t it?” He reached into his pocket “Remind me, you’re over twenty-one, right?”

“Dean, I’m twenty-three.” She pushed herself up to a sitting position. She tilted her head curiously. “What are you doing?”

“Jodes probably has you dry at the moment, doesn’t she?” He offered his flask to her. “Just a little burn down your throat to ground you.”

Claire looked at Dean in surprise. “Seriously? Jody has the guy who suggests getting drunk to deal with his feelings come and talk to me?”

“Excuse me?” Dean closed his flask back up and put it in his pocket. “A shot of whiskey never hurts anyone.”

“So a bottle of JD is a shot now?” Claire shot back.

Dean pointed his finger at Claire while trying to find the words to prove her wrong. “It’s better than the alternative, and I’ve done the damn alternative.”

“You’ve been sober?”

“Sonofabitch.” Dean ran his hand down his face. “Is this how you’ve been treating Jody and Donna?”

“Nope. They walk away when I tell them to go away.” She laid back down, grabbing the stuffed animal and rolling over. Her back fully to Dean, she commented. “This does mean I don’t want to talk to you.”

“Now I know why they called. I can out stubborn your ass any day.” Dean crossed over and sat on the foot of the bed. “Now. I understand we’re about to hit a year since that… place.”

“And the fact that you all hid from me that there’s an Alternate World version of Kaia here. And you keep telling me to get over her.” Claire’s voice raised in anger with each sentence. “Why should I get over her? Cause there are other girls out there? Cause there are boys out there? Newsflash! I’m a big flaming Lesbian! And this isn’t exactly the best area to go looking for that.” Claire sobbed into her Grumpy Cat. “And I want Kaia.”

Dean’s heart broke, watching Claire collapse in on herself. “Hey Kiddo, come here.” He put his arms out to the sides, offering a hug. “You’re getting softie Dean right now. Come here.”

A sniffle and some shuffling around on the bed and Claire curled up in Dean’s arms. “I know as hunters, we’re not supposed to entertain what-ifs and what-could-have-beens. But Dean, I’m young. She’s… she was young. We should have had more of a chance. I promised to protect her.”

“I know, Claire.” Dean rested his cheek on the top of her head. “And in turn, she jumped in front of you. Protecting you instead.” Claire nodded into his chest, and he took a deep breath. Dean knew why he was there. “I promised to take care of Cas like that, you know.” He gently rubbed Claire’s back as she cried into his chest. “But he’s a freaking angel of the lord. What can I do to protect him?” Dean shook his head. “I’ve watched him die too many times. And this last time? It was too real. It hurt so much.” He closed his eyes. “Claire, he died not knowing how much I love him.”

Claire pulled back slowly. “Did you just admit…” She shook her head. “You do love him.”

“Yeah, I do.” Dean nodded. “I’ve loved Cas for a long time.”

“Does he know? You got a second chance.” Dean blushed at Claire’s question, causing Claire to erupt. “DO YOU KNOW WHAT I WOULD GIVE?”

“Calm yourself, Barbie.” Dean threw his hands up in defense. “I want so badly to tell him, but it’s never the right time.”

“Newsflash, Dean. It will never be the right time. Stop pushing it off.” Claire squinted and shook her head. “What are you so afraid of?”

Dean stood up abruptly, nearly knocking Claire off the bed. “Nope. Not turning this around on me. I’m here for you.”

“Yeah, well sometimes, one finds healing in the healing of others.” Claire pointed at the recently vacated spot. “Sit your ass back down. You’re supposed to be acting like my Dad and taking care of me, now do it.”

“Because this is how you win me over.” Dean rolls his eyes. “Besides, you said I’m supposed to be helping you. How am I helping you if you’re talking to me about Cas?”

“I’m not thinking about Kaia. I’m working on another problem. Which is why you won’t tell Cas you love him.”

Dean mumbled to himself, despite knowing that Claire was going to make him repeat himself.

“Did you think I wasn’t going to hear that?” Claire glared at Dean. “Look who you’ve surrounded yourself with. Donna and Jody are my moms. They’re together. I just told you I’m a lesbian. Charlie is a lesbian. Rowena has no idea what gender means and will sleep with anyone that’s pretty. Sam is your brother and loves you no matter what. Hell, he’s been putting up with you and Cas forever.”

“Putting up with?” Dean stared in disbelief. “The hell is that supposed to mean?”

Claire laughed and the first hint of light returned to her eyes since Dean entered the room. “Dean, do you really think that you’ve hidden the fact that you’re in love with Cas? Part of the reason I hated you was because I saw how much you loved Cas. And as much as I wanted my father back, I couldn’t do that to you or Cas.” She shook her head. “Dean, you love Cas like the sky is blue, like the grass is green, and like how you think Dr. Sexy deserves one more season.”

“That obvious?”

“That obvious.” Claire nodded. “You really haven’t told him because you thought that your family would disown you? Dean, you’re Bi, not a…” Claire chewed on her bottom lip as she thought of her next words. “You’re human. Humans come in so many different flavors.”

“Shouldn’t I be saying this to you?” Dean sat back down on the bed next to her. “You’re the one who’s suffering.”

“I’m finding this rather cathartic.” Claire leaned against Dean again. “You know, you can’t exactly have this speech with me anyway. It’s not like I’m hiding in the closet. My issue isn’t that I was afraid of telling Kaia how I felt. It was that we never had a chance to explore it. You have Cas. You have love.” She held up her finger as soon as Dean started to open his mouth. “Don’t you dare say that Cas doesn’t love you, cause he’s just as obvious as you are, probably hoping that you’ll pick up on it.”

Dean let out a sigh. “So, you’re calling us idiots?”

“Your words, not mine.” Claire held her hands up in defense before putting them back down. She paused and rested her head on his shoulder. “Thank you, Dean.”

“What the hell for?”

“For coming. For distracting me. I’ll always wonder ‘What if’ when it comes to Kaia, but through your inaction, you’ve reminded me to keep living.” She smiled coyly.

“Now that’s just rude. You can make it up to me by joining me for some of Jodes’ cooking.” Dean bumped his shoulder and playfully pushed Claire up. “Come on, Kiddo.”

…

The next morning, after packing up Baby with a ton of leftovers, and getting hugs from the available wayward ladies in his life, Dean hit the road back to Lebanon. He relaxed on the drive, letting Zeppelin keep him calm as he calculated his next steps. 

Unlike making the trip to Jody in less than four hours, Dean took his time and clocked in at closer to five. He was almost dreading returning to the bunker, and when he pulled into the garage, he took a moment to calm himself, using a breathing technique Donna had showed him. Dean looked towards the entrance to the bunker, and let out a sigh, getting out of Baby and grabbing his duffel.

As he entered his room, Sam popped in behind him, quietly closing the door. “So?”

“So what?” Dean dropped his bag on his bed, not bothering to turn around and look at his brother.

“What happened up at Jody’s?”

“You probably wouldn’t believe me if I told you.” Dean grabbed out the leftovers, turning around and shoving them into Sam’s hands. “Apparently we need more food from Jody.”

“Jody did not have you drive ten hours round trip for food, Dean.” Sam looked down at the containers in his hands. “What’s the actual reason you were there?”

“It’s been a year.” Dean shrugged. “I didn’t realize it until now, but it’s been about a year since we found out about other universes, and we went traipsing around in them, trying to find everyone.” He grabbed out the extra clothes he hadn’t needed and started to put them away. “It’s been a year since Claire lost Kaia, and Jodes thought I had a similar enough situation in which Claire could identify.”

Sam nodded. “You watching Cas die.”

“Yeah. While protecting me. Us.” Dean nodded. He let out a sigh knowing that the easiest hurdle to jump was the one in front of him. “Sam, I’m Bi.”

“No shit,” Sam replied. “Did you think I didn’t notice? Or did you think I would hate you?”

“Dad, uh…”

“Not a good enough excuse, Dean.” Sam interrupted. “Dad didn’t raise me. Dad didn’t take care of me when I was sick. Dad didn’t make sure I got to go on field trips. You did. You’re my brother and my best friend. You honestly thought I’d care that you’re Bi?” Sam shook his head and crossed the room, pulling his brother in for a hug. “I know we don’t do this, but dammit, Dean. I’m not going to hate you because you’re in love with a guy.”

Dean held up his finger, before adding another to make finger quotes. “‘A multidimensional wavelength of celestial intent.’ I love Cas.”

“So what are you going to do about it?” Sam raised an eyebrow, clearly amused.

“I’m going to go tell him.” Dean stepped past Sam and opened his door.

“He’s in the library!”

Dean shook his head and moved down the hallway slowly. He tried to convince himself that things wouldn’t change. He tried to remind himself that no matter what, he and Cas would remain best friends. And as he turned the corner, finding a smile appearing on Cas’ face when Cas saw him, his heart stopped, and the need to fly almost overtook his desire to fight.

“Hello, Dean.” Cas pulled the ribbon of the book he was reading between the pages and closed it. “Sam said you had gone to Jody’s. Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, I think I was able to help. Maybe not in the way that they imagined, but things were better when I left.” Dean crossed the room and sat in the chair next to Cas. “You hold down the fort okay?”

Cas tilted his head to the side. “You were gone for a day, Dean. Nothing significant happened in your absence.”

“Maybe not here,” Dean muttered, hoping Cas didn’t hear him. He took a deep breath in through his nose and slowly exhaled. “Cas, you know you’re my best friend, right?”

“Yes.” Cas nodded, as he carefully watched Dean. “Why are you bringing this up?”

“Hear me out, Cas. Please?” Dean waited until Cas nodded before continuing. “There’s something I’ve been hiding for a long time, because I was afraid that I’d be disowned, or Sam would hate me, or I’d lose you.”

“While I refuse to speak on your father, there’s nothing you could do to push Sam or myself away.” Cas shook his head.

Dean hung his head and closed his eyes. “I’m Bi. Like, Bisexual.” The silence that hung in the air could only have lasted seconds, but to Dean, it felt like an eternity. He looked up, his eyes finding Cas’. The angel was looking at him, his eyebrow raised in confusion. “Cas, say something.”

“I’m trying to figure out why you think that would chase me away. I’ve told you before I have no preference when it comes to gender or sexual orientation.” Cas turned in his chair to face Dean better.

“I didn’t think it would be my orientation that chased you away.” Dean moved to the edge of his seat, getting closer to Cas. “Please don’t hate me?” He leaned in, wrapping his hand around the back of Cas’ neck before pressing his lips against Cas’. Dean felt Cas freeze under the gesture. He pulled back slightly, his lips still close enough to feel Cas’ breath. “I’m sorry, Cas. I just needed to know–”

Dean didn’t get to finish his sentence. Cas’ mouth crashed back into his, swallowing the whimper of surprise that escaped Dean’s lips. Unlike the first kiss that scared him, Dean felt warm, he felt safe. Dean knew that Cas loved him as much as he loved Cas.

Dean was home.

**Author's Note:**

> Are you into Destiel? Do you use Discord? Are you over the age of 18? Looking for a cool group of people to hang out with? Come join the writers, artists, and other amazing Destiel fans on the [Profound Bond Discord Server](https://discord.gg/profoundbond).


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